


A Lot More to Magic

by SnarkyBreeze



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: A Plant Wrote This, Domestic Fluff, M/M, Okaeri | yoihomezine, Witch!Viktor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-04
Updated: 2019-05-04
Packaged: 2020-02-21 16:18:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 1,903
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18705895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SnarkyBreeze/pseuds/SnarkyBreeze
Summary: After moving in with Viktor in St. Petersburg, Yuuri marvels at all the little eccentricities that come with living with Russia’s Living Legend - who just happens to be a witch.





	1. Vitya makes tea

He is meticulous and serene, whether he’s lit by the first rays of the rising sun in the morning or the warm glow of the countertop lighting at night.  Vitya’s water comes from a pitcher he leaves on the counter, filtered and crisp and clear. It’s not unusual; most people use filter pitchers, but not many people have crystals of labradorite and lithium quartz resting in the bottom.

 

“To charge it,” Viktor explains the first time Yuuri asks, as if that explains it all.  Yuuri later receives a laundry list of properties and correspondences of both labradorite and lithium quartz.  The only thing he remembers is that the latter is supposed to ward off depressive thoughts.

 

Yuuri thinks he knows tea.  He grew up serving tea to customers all his life.  But Vitya seems to  _ live _ tea; once the charged water is in the clear glass kettle, bubbling and churning, Vitya turns to a sprawl of airtight containers full of herbs, spices, teas, and dried fruits, until he finds what he’s looking for.

 

It’s always something different.  Sometimes, Yuuri thinks he can call it.  He’s started to associate licorice and ginger with cold season, oolong with autumn, and obvious ones like chamomile or lavender to relax.

 

But sometimes, Vitya pulls a few twigs out of a jar labeled “slippery elm bark” or “eyebright” or “kava,” and once again, Yuuri has to ask.  Once again, the explanation is not so much an answer as it is a list of possible combinations of the herbs’ correspondences and health benefits, and what Vitya intends to achieve with this cup.

 

Yuuri has never tried to achieve anything beyond warmth or caffeine from his cup of tea.

Sometimes Vitya pulls a pinch from one container and seems content; sometimes he blends upwards of ten spices.  One restless evening, he surprises Yuuri by explaining that the last five jars he pulled from were all some form of mint; when they sat down to drink it a few minutes later the brew was invigorating and calming all at once, like sinking into the onsen after a long day of training.

 

Vitya holds his tea in his hands as it steeps, breathing in the aroma as the warmth flows through his fingertips.  Yuuri loves to watch his face as he sits and waits for the water to cool, for the flavor to infuse to his liking. So often when they’re training or traveling, impatience takes over his fiance’s demeanor, but at home, Yuuri doesn’t think he’s ever seen Vitya truly wait for anything.  

 

He’s there when the tea is ready for him.


	2. Vitya cleanses the house

It starts, surprise surprise, with a cup of tea.

Or coffee, or whatever Vitya decides to brew for the occasion.  He assures Yuuri any hot drink will do, although Yuuri has noticed that caffeine is always preferred when Vitya is cleansing the house.

 

Not cleaning.   _ Cleansing _ .  The difference is… intention?  State of mind? It’s something that seems so concrete to Vitya; he talks about it as if tangible, like the temperature of the room or the style of pants he’s got on.  Vitya cleans the house nearly daily, as a rule. Between his need for aesthetic and Yuuri’s meticulous tidiness, they keep everything more or less spotless. But every once in a while, usually with the change of the seasons or following an argument, Vitya will find something that crawls beneath his skin, and it isn’t long before the entire open plan is “a disaster” that “needs to be sorted out.”

 

Yuuri has tried arguing that the only thing on the floor is Makka.  He just scrubbed the countertops with bleach after the failed attempt at butchering their own octopus for dinner.  For heaven’s sake, Vitya, we don’t pay Rositsa to come here once a week and do nothing; it looks fine!

 

But the house doesn’t need cleaning.  It needs  _ cleansing _ .

 

Vitya brews his drink, settling down with it at the table.  He fusses over a candle, murmuring in Russian as he cradles it in his hands.  Sometimes, if he’s roped Yuuri into helping him with his task, they’ll do this together.

 

"Я торжествую над беспорядком.  Я хозяин своего дома."

 

Yuuri wants to feel it the way Vitya does.  In any case, the drink is refreshing. Vitya lights the candle and incants another bit of Russian.  Sometimes Yuuri wonders what he’s saying. It’s almost always the same thing, he’s sure of it. He is sure once he’s got a few semesters of language classes under his belt, he’ll come to realize they’re incredibly mundane, like “Okay, let’s clean the house then.”

 

_ Cleanse _ .  Whatever.

 

"Я наполняю эту чашу чистотой, светом и мотивацией."

 

“I think it’s time to go through my clothes and get rid of the things I’m not wearing anymore,” Vitya says, or something to the same effect, as he sips his brew.  “I can feel my old things cluttering up the space. It’s draining my energy.”

 

The first time he says it, Yuuri laughs out loud.  It’s always something dramatic like that, anyway. “It’s sucking all the positivity out of the room,” or “It has just felt so hostile in here lately.  Do you feel it?”

 

Yuuri doesn’t think he feels it.  It’s always just felt like… well, like  _ home _ , frankly.  Although he’s got to admit that the release he feels when he finally gets rid of those hole-in-the-crotch sweatpants is out of this world.  Maybe Vitya can just tap into that feeling somehow.

He calls it a spell, this little ritual.  He sits in silence after that, breathing deep and drinking until his cup is empty.  And as if he’s poured into it some kind of powerful fuel, as if sitting at the table for fifteen minutes, watching the flickering flame of the candle and drinking cafe au lait was enough to fill a person with boundless energy, Vitya gets up and starts whatever project he’s got on his mind - and doesn’t stop until he’s finished.

 

And Yuuri’s got to admit, the place always feels a little bit better once he’s done.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Translations:
> 
> Я торжествую над беспорядком. Я хозяин своего дома. - I prevail over the mess. I am the master of my home.
> 
> наполняю эту чашу чистотой, светом и мотивацией. - I fill this cup with purity, light, and motivation.


	3. Vitya gives freely

Autumn, when every member of the St. Petersburg rink family is either sick or traveling for qualifiers or both, is Vitya’s time to shine.

Autumn is what he does best, Yuuri thinks.  He must not be the only one, either, because come October, everyone is on Vitya’s case about something.

 

Well, except Georgi.  Georgi is on Viktor’s case year-round, usually to attract love or mend a broken heart.  Vitya’s always happy to oblige, but he admits to Yuuri that there’s only so much he can do with rose quartz and rose petals, that sometimes it’s just not meant to be.  That never stops him from trying, though. Georgi still wears the little pink sachet of dried herbs Vitya gave him around his neck, probably still has the spell jar, sealed with red wax, underneath his pillow.

 

Even Vitya admits it’s all snake oil unless Georgi has the intention of actually taking command of his love life.

 

But Vitya’s most popular concoction is his liquid fire.  Everyone, even all-too-wary Yurio and begrudging skeptic Yakov, come to the team’s star skater for their own bottle of the bright red syrup.  The first time Yuuri sees him make it, he feels his stomach turn - he’s sure everyone knows what they’re drinking, but the blend of ginger, turmeric, cayenne, garlic, vinegar, honey, and black pepper looks more like a marinade than a drink to him.  Just the tiniest of sniffs makes his eyes water and his sinuses burn.

 

But the first time Yuuri wakes up miserable with a throat congested and inflamed, unable to breathe or swallow comfortably, Vitya comes to his aid with tea and a heavily-scented, soul-warming bath, and as Yuuri soaks Vitya hands him a shotglass of his locally-famed liquid fire.

 

He almost wants to turn it down.  He can’t decide which he’d rather live with - the pain of his aching throat or the taste of this drink.  He decides the pain is the greater of two evils and lets College Yuuri take over, tipping back the shotglass in a single gulp.

 

He expects a punch in the face. Or a twist in the gut, anything but pleasant warmth that coats his throat and soothes the sharp pain with its own subtle burn.  It’s no cure, and he’s definitely still taking ibuprofen when he gets out of the bath, but Yuuri has to admit the potion’s reputation holds up.

 

He even suggests that next time, Vitya put in some Szechuan peppercorn for its analgesic qualities.  

 

It’s funny, seeing the little things that make Vitya tick here in St. Petersburg.  Yuuri’s never seen pride light up his eyes quite like the pride at having helped someone with something he’s made.  No gold medal can top that.


	4. Vitya tends to the plants

Yuuri never realized that you could water plants wrong.  But this is Vitya he’s living with now, so particular and precise with every little event that occurs within the walls of their apartment.

 

So Yuuri probably shouldn’t be surprised at the shriek his fiance emits when he walks in to find Yuuri watering the array of potted plants that line the windowsill.

 

“I just watered yesterday!” Viktor frets, and before Yuuri can question it, he’s on his knees in front of the window sill, pressing his fingers into the soil of a tall, spiky plant that looks like tendrils thrusting up out of the earth.  “Oh, she’s saturated… well, she’s going to be finicky the next couple of days… Yuuri my love, haven’t I shown you the schedule?”

 

He hasn’t.  Yuuri considers telling him this, telling Vitya the myriad of things he’s still learning about his new home because Vitya has it so meticulously well-kept.  It’s a rich vein - he decides that conversation is better saved for another day. This isn’t even something they’ve gone over with Makkachin, as spoiled as she is - Yuuri was able to pick up on her routine within a few days on his own.

 

But Vitya did just call an inanimate plant finicky.  So Yuuri asks to see this plant care schedule.

 

He doesn’t expect to get a formal introduction.  

Maybe he should stop coming into these new situations with any sort of expectations.  Vitya never ceases to surprise him.

 

The spiky plant he apparently drowned is Vera Charles, an aloe plant who only needs watering once a week and plays an active role in Vitya’s skincare routine.  Vitya calls her “more nurturing than her namesake” and Yuuri can feel his head start to spin.

 

It turns out he also abused Clara and Tequila, two tillandsias who rarely take water at all.  In the process, he also separated them, causing Vitya to tut sympathetically at their loneliness.  

 

Yuuri loves this crazy man.

 

Yuuri is going to marry this crazy, eccentric witch of a man.

 

Yuuri only has eyes for the fool who is explaining to him that Fyodorova, a spathiphyllum, is the matron and Carmina, a philodendron, is mischievous, definitely a breeding ground for fae.  More than anything, Yuuri is so excited that things are as interesting here, at home,  _ their _ home, as they are out on the road.

 

And that’s probably how they end up in a tangle of limbs right there, probably giving the plants a show, and Yuuri hopes he’s not embarrassing a particularly shy cheese plant, because Vitya is beautiful, in all his little ways.

 

This life with Vitya, this is beautiful.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm so excited to share my works for the YOI Home Zine! Make sure you check out the collection linked at the top of the page and see everyone else's amazing pieces. 
> 
> I post all fic updates to [my Tumblr](http://kingfisherunion.tumblr.com) and [my Twitter](http://twitter.com/snarkybreeze) along with RB/RTs and general shitposts.
> 
> Shares, kudos, and comments are always welcomed and appreciated!


End file.
